#4 Best affordable suburb in the U.S.A – Huntersville, NC
Mar 9th
I have called Lake Norman area home for over 5 years and absolutely love the area. I am not alone ! Huntersville which is located just 10 miles north of Charlotte was awarded the #4 best affordable suburb in the U.S.A 
The town also offers a variety of beautiful parks. These parks are home to many amateur sporting events and youth tournaments every year and offer neighborhoods playground and team sport activities.
Huntersville also provides access to Lake Norman and its 520 miles of shoreline. This is great news for Charlotte and the Lake Norman area! It doesn’t hurt when it’s 70 degress yesterday and the boats were hitting the lake ! Every day, I am so happy to be living in the Carolinas where the quality of the life is fantastic ! Bring on Spring !
$100 Down HUD Program
Mar 3rd
I wanted to remind you that we provide financing for the “$100 HUD Home” Program. 
As long as the property will be owner occupied, is a HUD Home identified on the HUD website and you use FHA financing, they will be eligible for the $100 down program. There are credit qualifying restrictions but it’s a great opportunity for those that don’t have a large down payment. For a list of eligible properties, please use the following links:
South Carolina: http://hud3.towerauction.net/SC.htm
North Carolina: http://hud3.towerauction.net/NC.htm
If the home needs repairs, New American Mortgage also has the ability to do a repair escrow on a HUD Home. This is unique in our industry as most lenders don’t have the ability to setup a repair escrow on a HUD home.
What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : March 1, 2010
Mar 1st
Mortgage markets improved last week as economic reports painted a less-than-stellar portrait of the U.S. economy and concerns of a looming monetary policy change eased.
Mortgage rates are now at their lowest levels since early-February.
Last week was heavy on negative data:
- Consumer Confidence posted 16% short of expectations
- New Home Sales posted 13% short of expectations
- Initial Jobless Claims were higher than expected
In addition, both the Case-Shiller and Home Price Indices showed a slight pullback in the housing sector.
The impact of these statistics was muted, however. This is because Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave his semi-annual outlook to Congress and markets focused more on the chairman verbiage than hard data, looking for clues about the future of Fed policy.
Bernanke stayed on message — the Fed Funds Rate will stay low for an extended period of time.
Mortgage rates were also helped by a strengthening U.S. dollar and demand for U.S.-denominated bonds. When demand for mortgage-backed bonds is strong, mortgage rates fall.
This week, mortgage rates will jockey around Friday’s Non-Farm Payrolls report.
Jobs are playing a large role in mortgage bond trading and markets expect that 30,000 jobs were lost in February. If the actual figure is better than 30,000 jobs lost, mortgage rates will rise. If it’s worse, rates will rise.
Other important data this week include Personal Consumption Expenditures — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — plus the Fed’s Beige Book release. Mortgage rates remain in flux so float with caution.
Mortgage rates look good today, but by Friday, they could be much, much worse.
Condos, Condos, and Condos
Feb 25th
A condo used to represent the easy way to own a home — no lawn to mow, no water heater to worry about, no siding to paint, and all of the maintenance was take care of for you. While it’s still easy enough to live in a condo, there’s nothing easy about financing one anymore.
The tightening of lending guidelines has had a dramtic impact on the consumer’s ability to purchase a condonimum. In fact, although the difference between a townhome and condo doesn’t appear to be much from the naked eye, there is a HUGE difference in financing. The minimum down payment has gone from 3% down to 10% to 20% down required to purchase the condo. Underwriting also must make sure that the property is not in a declining market AND the majority of the building is owner occupied or they will NOT offer financing. There is still one loan program that allows for a down payment as little as 3.5% down to and is ok with a declining market to purchase a condo- FHA (Federal Housing Administration). The requirement is that the property must be on the FHA approved list and have at least 51% owner occupied with one owner not owning more than 10% of the building (typically a developer). Two very popular condo projects in Uptown Charlotte – Fifth and Poplar and Avenue recently made that list. This is great news for anyone looking to purchase in those communities. You can review the current list of FHA APPROVED CONDOS here in Charlotte. The tax credits expire on April 30th so you need to be under contract by that date. Call me today to get prequalified !
December 2009 Case-Shiller Data Shows Battered Markets In Bona Fide Recovery
Feb 24th
Using data compiled in December, Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index Tuesday. The report shows home prices down just 2.5% on an annual basis, a figure much lower than the 8.7% annual drop reported after Q3.
According to Case-Shiller representatives, the housing market is “in better shape than it was this time last year”, but some of the summer’s momentum has been lost. 15 of 20 tracked markets declined in value between November and December 2009.
Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note the 5 markets that didn’t decline — Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego. Each of these metro regions were among the hardest hit nationwide when home prices first broke. Now, they’re leading the pack in price recovery.
For some real estate investors, that’s a positive signal. But we also have to consider the Case-Shiller Index’s flaws because they’re big ones.
As examples:
- Case-Shiller data is reported on a 2-month lag
- The Case-Shiller sample set includes just 20 U.S. cities
- There’s no “national real estate market” — real estate is local
That said, the Case-Shiller Index is still important. As the most widely-used private sector housing index, Case-Shiller helps to identify broader housing trends and many people believe housing is a key element in the economic recovery.
If the markets that led the housing decline will lead the housing resurgence, December’s data shows that full recovery is right around the corner.
NASCAR Hall of Fame!
Feb 23rd
It’s been said that one thing that the city of Charlotte has been lacking was a real tourism magnet. I believe this all changes on May 11th, 2010 when the 150,000 square foot NASCAR Hall of Fame opens !
They have started running commercials. Take a look at the 30 second commercial!
It’s terrific news for Charlotte as it will have a large economic impact on our area from increased convention bookings to new jobs supporting the operations of the facility and marketing for NASCAR. Feel free to check out the website for activities !
